Final leap

A salmon leaps out of a holding pond at the Spring Creek National Fish Hatchery.

Every year, 15 million spawning fall chinook salmon return to their birthplace at the Spring Creek National Fish Hatchery on the Columbia River in Washington. Here, an exuberant salmon makes one of its final leaps before it’s “harvested” for eggs or sperm for next year’s generation. I saw the ocassional “leaper” and knew I had to have this shot. But it took me about 30 minutes of chasing them with my lens. In the end I got one!

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